Non-Fiction

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-seven) Thus, at the limit of the phenomenon’s action, the people had died of asphyxiation, not burns. And instantaneous death, as with all who had been found mutilated, crushed, burned, carbonized, at the heart of this asphyxiating, explosive action. […]

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-six) Letters, carried by boat, which left Saint-Pierre at six in the morning, and were received at Fort-de-France, prove that in other quarters, in houses other than of this street, of Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, many women had not slept during the night, and […]

My Curious Reading Adventures in Research Huckstering As the news patron leafs casually through the daily pages, he may simply overlook the advertisement that doesn’t reach out and grab. A brief selection of quirks and ingenious notions, from advertisers of the 19th century. Take […]

Assorted Opinions To Whom Do You Refer (With Malice Towards None: part three) To Whom Do You Refer One future day, a rumor will rise, spread by the older people, that some new use of language, or type of conduct, some new formula of joking, […]

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-five) XXIX An Observation of M. Muller The equipage of the doctor. Proof of instant death. Some persons who have observed, from the first days, the fallen bodies in the streets of Saint-Pierre; […]

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-four) The 18th, there was one more powerful, with detonations at the summit of the mountain, and quakings in the ground of the village. They collected ash and sent this to Fort-de-France, where it was analyzed by M. Mirville. And […]

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-three) “The differences in burns could be explained by the explosive action of burning, of fire, on the muscles. Under this action, the most powerful are contracted, which puts the limbs in flexion; the weakest have been by force extended, and the […]

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-two) Warning! Today’s Catastrophe contains a graphic photo that may disturb some readers. XXYII Interview with Doctor Lherminier The wounded and their care. Their burns. The state of the corpses in the ruins. Macabre […]

Assorted Opinions To Whom Do You Refer (With Malice Towards None: part two) When I speak of good taste and of good moral tone I do not mean the kind of good taste which is offended by every reference to the unpleasant things of life, I do […]

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (forty-one) Among the Experts XXVI A Guardian of Sanitary Regulations Protests All Down the Line A man who truly is no longer content, not at all, with the governmental and administrative […]